World War III: IGN AU's Next-Gen Console Showdown

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Part two examines Sony's PS3 do-all wondermachine. But is this really living?

By Patrick Kolan

Bennett: The time has come. We've given the latest next-gen console six weeks to settle in to the Australian market. We've had plenty of time to play extensively with the PS3, the Wii and the Xbox 360 (whether we wanted to or not is another question). And now, at last, we're ready. Ready to judge. Ready to tell you, dear reader, whether the Wii, the PS3 or the Xbox 360 is our pick for best overall console. And finally, ready to provoke the flames of several hundred thousand Australians who spent money on one or more of them. Obviously it's not an easy answer, or I'd simply say 360, Patch would say Wii and Cam would say Atari 2600, and the article would be done. But here goes anyway - and remember, please send any and all flame emails to our new, asbestos-lined inbox at wehateign@ign.ru. Cam, want to explain to our readers how this story is going to unfurl?

Cam: Certainly, 'cos if there's one thing I'm good at, it's the art of furling and unfurling. The basic idea is that we're going to examine each next-gen machine in turn, giving our perspectives on basically every important aspect, then we'll wrap it all up with a full-on head to head at the end of the week, where a winner (*gulp*) will be announced. We covered the Wii yesterday and now it's the PS3's turn to step up on the IGN stage.

The Launch

Patch: To describe the PS3's global launch as a muted affair is probably being overly kind to Sony's spectacularly expensive gaming machine. No matter how much spin, cash-value comparisons and backslapping Sony touted post-launch in Australia, the first week in the PS3's life was disturbingly quiet. Few Sydneysiders will forget the empty red-rope queues begging to be filled with hardcore early-adopters, only to see a few dozen actually part with their money for a console on the night. It took Sony 10 days to make 27,083 sales - which on one hand is moderately impressive considering the price tag, but fairly slow on the uptake in light of the Wii and 360's 30,000-plus sales over their opening weekends. Why the caution in the market? Beyond cost, I think a lot of this comes down to a lack of must-play titles and even an overestimation of the need for Blu-ray players in a market that doesn't have the number of true-HD televisions to really warrant this HD technology. Are you with me there, guys?

Bennett: I was certainly there with you at the PS3's midnight launch, Patch. Oh deary me, what a depressing state of affairs that was. I've seen more people in Rose Hill cemetery at midnight than we saw at these failed events. But let's face it, apart from giving us a great excuse to work until one in the morning, launch events don't mean much in the bigger picture. If you look at the PS3 sales for the first week on a dollar for dollar basis, the PS3 did pretty damn well. It also had one of the most comprehensive ranges of games at launch of any console, thanks to the launch delay. Sadly, a large percentage of these games were poorly coded ports that had been released in superior shape up to twelve months earlier.

*crickets* *tubleweeds* *lame jokes*

Cam: Indeed they were, but it was still a broad line-up, and for the dudes that have been ignoring the other machines while scraping and saving for the PS3, many of those ports would be pretty appealing. But those are the people that are going to buy a PS3 regardless, based on brand loyalty alone. There are plenty of other people out there that need to be convinced that Sony's offering is unique - or at least AU $350 superior to Xbox 360, and a port-heavy line-up just undermines any point of difference. Sure, there's Blu-ray, but right now that really doesn't mean much. Other than that, the PS3 is a high-spec, high-def next-gen console with wireless controllers and an online service. Aside from greater multimedia functionality out of the box (not that anyone would buy a console for a falling photos screensaver) and completely free online play, it sounds like a 360 to me. And we guess that it sounds that way to a lot of consumers, given the understated Australian launch.

In terms of the numbers Patch mentioned, we should also point out that both the Wii and 360 had hardware shortages during and after their Australia launches, whereas the PS3 was very well stocked. You can imagine how many systems Nintendo could have shifted in the first few weeks if it had more stock kicking around. But enough about the launch, let's talk hardware.

Bennett: Let's not forget that Wii launched at Christmas, while PS3 and 360 both had March launches&#Array;

The Hardware

Patch: The PS3 is unquestionably powerful; about neck-and-neck with the graphical end-product that the 360 cranks out and with one very distinct advantage - an integrated high-capacity storage medium in Blu-ray. In a lot of ways, this is Sony's not-so-secret weapon. Not only are developers like Rockstar starting to comment on the lack of space on standard DVD, but by integrating this technology into a mainstream consumer product, Sony is declaring with confidence that this is the format of the future. The PS2 introduced DVD into the gaming sphere, and with every subsequent price drop, DVD's install base shot up until it was virtually the sole format for films. This is the kind of market reaction that Sony is banking on. I'm not too fond of the Sixaxis, however. They can do what they want to the internals of the system, but not improving on the ergonomics of the now-dated Dual Shock shape and simply implementing rough motion controls and two shoddy, spongy triggers is not innovative - it's half-arsed.

Bennett: Don't worry, Patch; I'll wager that we'll have a new official controller in the next three months. Hopefully with last-gen rumble effects, triggers that your fingers can grip and analogue sticks that don't feel plain wrong. We keep hearing about the power of the Cell from Sony. As gaming writers, we also keep hearing about the difficulty of programming this chip. While many developers won't openly admit it, you can see the fear in their eyes whenever we ask them how their PS3 versions are progressing compared to their 360 versions. And if John Carmack thinks the PS3's hardware is complicated, how are mere mortals going to fare?

Having said that, looking at the trailers for MGS4, it's obvious there is some meaty processing power in there. I'm just not so sure it's the leap beyond the competition that we were expecting. And after speaking to NVIDIA, it's pretty obvious that PS3 is going to stick to 720p rather than 1080p, which I'm fine with. Blu-ray is kind of cool for the 2% of the population who have screens worthy of it, but right now it's a novelty feature. But what I love most about the PS3 is a rather silly feature; the fact that it's basically silent&#Array;

The PS3's controller needs to either be revised or buried under several kilometres of nuclear slag. We're happy either way.

Cam: So true. My 360 is - just like my Xbox before it - loud enough that I wouldn't even consider watching a DVD on it. It's strictly a games machine. Low noise levels are definitely important if a machine is the basis of your home theatre setup. In terms of the PS3's hardware, it's clearly got some grunt, but I honestly haven't seen anything on the system yet that has made my jaw drop. In fact, many of the 360 ports look a little worse for wear on the PS3 - just look at F.E.A.R. on 360 side by side with F.E.A.R. on PS3. The comparison is not good. That said, MGS4 is shaping up well, and we're going to have full Ninja Gaiden: Sigma code in the next couple of days so that will be an excellent litmus test for the system's visual grunt.

Funny though that Sony's ambitions are rapidly being scaled back to 720p for decent performance. It's a long way off from the dual 1080p output the company touted at E3 a couple of years back. But hey, if you look at how long it took developers to really wring decent looking games out of the PS2, there's no doubt this hardware will come into its own eventually. Let's just hope it's not prohibitively expensive to develop for. Just quickly, the PS3 in other areas hardware-wise. Hard drive as standard? Thumbs up. Composite cables out of the box? Thumbs down. HDMI connectivity? Thumbs up. Limited backwards compatibility? Thumbs down - it should either have it or not have it. Controller redesign? Thumbs down - the triggers are terrible, the rumble is sorely missed and why do I have to plug a wireless controller in to assign it? Cell processor? Shrugs shoulders.